Sept 2010:A Department of Special Investigation officer has continued to release evidence which he says backs his allegation of foul play in the department's inquiry into the Best 59 Co, pyramid scheme case. Piyawat Kingkate, director of the DSI's Bureau of Special Crime, yesterday released two audio clips containing conversations between him and two people who he said tried to lobby him to help secure the release of the suspects in the case. Col Piyawat earlier said on Facebook that Best 59 Co had obtained permission from the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) to operate a direct-sale business selling two products, But the company sold 45 other items for which it had not sought permission from the board, on top of that, Best 59 had an illegal pay plan prohibited in Thailand.

KOREAN FTC OPPRESSING MLM DISTRIBUTORS

KOREA - ILLEGAL TO PAY OVER 35% COMMISSIONS!

Sept 2009: MLM WatchDog Opinion: Firms operating in Korea got the legislature to pass laws that only 35% of wholesale price can be paid to distributors. The world standard now is 50% and Korean distributors are being ripped off by 15%. It is silly to use the standard of 35% payoff to decide if a company is a pyramid. There seems to be no consideration of quality of goods or customer purchases percentage! This is a human rights violation! THIS IS TERRIBLE: In Korea, their Fair Trade Commission, the prosecutor for the economy, has declared war on illegal multilevel marketing firms that are causing harm by taking advantage of the economic crisis to target the unemployed, retired and university students experiencing difficulty finding jobs.

The Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announced Sunday a comprehensive set of measures directed at multilevel marketing (Korean MLM) firms and are calling for broad, direct investigations of these firms. The FTC is also strengthening sanctions in order to use some firms as examples to others who have been subject to criminal complaints and investigations for breaking the law, to provide rewards for whistle-blowers, to raise fines for breaking the law, and to publicly release the names of companies that habitually break the law.

The Korean MLM market has been on an upswing since 2007. In 2008, 62 registered firms made 2.1956 trillion Won in sales, a 24 percent increase compared to the previous year. The number of registered salespeople last year was 3.09 million. 664.7 billion Won in sales bonuses for sales to new clients were paid to 1.05 million sales persons.

Recent announcements call for a direct investigation of MLM companies operating in Korea in conjunction with local governments over October and November and a concentrated crackdown on illegal activities including the payment of excessive sales bonuses to employees, the sale of high-priced goods over 1.3 million Won in value, and unregistered firms. Since the Korean FTC decided to strengthen its penalties in order to make examples out of firms caught engaging in illegal activities, the firms will now be subject to criminal complaints and fines.

According to current laws, sales bonuses are limited to 35 percent of the supply price and some Korean MLM companies, including JU, whose president was arrested in 2005, have been giving out excessively high bonuses of up to 84 percent of the sales price and speculation in the industry has risen as a result.

The Korean FTC has also decided to launch a whistle-blowing system in October for illegal Korean MLM firms that will pay 300,000 to 1 million Won per tip-off.

The Korean FTC also decided to change regulations for joining mutual aid associations for firms that break the law, and will raise their collateral payments and check-off fees from 0.01 to 0.3 percent. The Korean FTC also plans to regularly release information about firms that have repeatedly broken the law at least three times in three years or twice in a single year.

THIEF IN PONZI ATTACKING SINGAPORE - MALAYSIA ON TRIAL

Feb 2009 -- Sunshine Empire's sales pitch useD a slide show titled “Anything Is Possible” and is reportedly very similar to one authored by the great Glenn W. Turner. Now Phang is going to jail in Singapore for his ponzi driven pyramid!

19 May 2008 -- Just under a billion dollars was lost in this essential oils scam. Greed pushed losses even higher in the interior of China and Taiwan. This is bad for legitimate companies trying to operate in the orient.

End October 2007 -- Sunshine Empire's sales pitch uses a slide show titled “Anything Is Possible” and is reportedly very similar to one authored by the great Glenn W. Turner (used in the U.S. years ago). Sunshine Empire, a multi-level marketing (MLM) firm, is on the “Bad” list of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). MAS has included the firm on its list of companies that investors should avoid. The Securities Commission in Malaysia also listed Sunshine Empire on their investor-alert list. The SEC’s website noted: 'Offers often come in the guise of seemingly attractive investment opportunities or schemes and may also be camouflaged as direct-selling or business opportunities'.

8 Oct 2007 -- This Japanese Pyramid Ponzi scam took in over $100 billion yen by promising 36% annual return on money. First the Philippines at $138 million scammed. Ed. Note: What? These Japanese Pyramid Ponzi scammers said, “let’s beat those Philippines Pyramid Ponzi scammers” for the most $$$$$$ scammed?http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071004TDY01302.htm

PYRAMIDS GOING CRAZY IN CHINA

7 Sept 2007 – Police have shut down China's biggest online pyramid sales scam that took in U.S. $180 million, from 170,000 people. The “Swiss Mutual fund drew profits from lower level participants. Two suspects are in custody, Wei Lixin and Chen Yong, who are accused of running the scam that took 8,000 Yuan from each person. China's Public Security Ministry has shut down about 17,000 illegal pyramid schemes in the first half of this year and charged about 16,000 suspects.

Bribery & Pyramid Charges Filed in Korea

20 July 2007 – The JU Group in South Korea has set a world record for pyramiding? Almost $4.4 billion U.S. dollars! That is a world record! Federal regulators in South Korea indicted 27 people, including politicians and a newspaper publisher, on charges of taking bribes from South Korea’s largest multilevel marketing company, JU Group.

GOLD QUEST OWNER ARRESTED IN INDONESIA

6 May 2007 – The head of Gold Quest out of Hong Kong was arrested on an Interpol warrant issued by the Phillipines. No doubt the heat was on because Gold Quest did a special coin featuring an Indonesia prince (who was dead) without his family's permission. The Royal family went nuts! The Phillipines law is close to the U.S. on pyramid schemes so your editors theory is that the two governments conspired to bag the head man because Indonesia did not have any laws on the books to jail him. This follows Iran passing a law to hang Gold Quest there literally!

CHINA SHOOTING ALL - NOT KNOW RIGHT FROM WRONG

13 Jan 2007 – China put out the news release below showing that the government can’t tell the difference from right or wrong or what a Pyramid Scheme is. A friend of mine called he was going to China to promote an MLM.........I Panicked! Here is the latest China Story

CHINA GOING NUTS! PYRAMID SCHEMES – ESPECIALLY ANTS

Dec 2006 –Mainland China’s government is having fits with what they call pyramid schemes because Chinese citizens are looking to make large returns on their investment. Your MLM WatchDog suspects many of these are Ponzi schemes, words not in the Chinese Lexicon. American MLM companies are not involved after Lexxus – National Health Trends paid over $10 million to get legal. ANTS? Sounds like the Cosmetic Buttermilk Culture in the U.S. circa 1972! We love the jail part for pyramid crooks!

Nov 2006 –A secretary to President Roh Moo-hyun is scheduled to be summoned this week in connection with an alleged scandal involving JU Group, Korea’s biggest pyramid marketing company. The prosecutor's office said relatives of the secretary/aide that joined JU in 2004 have made over 1 billion won in commissions for their investments in the suspected pyramid.

Oct 2006 –This is scary “Big Brother” is watching! The Chinese Government has a nutty idea of what "pyramids" are including legit MLM Companies. We need to call for World Trade Organization to sanction the Chinese government until they become rational.

Jan 2006 –Great article from my favorite hangout, Singapore. Read the article below and note: No proper goods or services = pyramid. Remember, SIngapore “canes” kids for scratching a car. Can you imagine what they do to you for running a pyramid scheme? No goods or services with value! Ouch! PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A DIRECT SALES ONE LEVEL PYRAMID. Only one person is paid commissions when a new sucker comes in the program!

Dec 2005 --Environment Secretary Michael Defensor followed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s standing order to create business opportunities for the Filipino. He and his company bought an MLM Company and are spreading the opportunity. Now he is under attack! http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=60039

REPORT ON NEW MLM REQUIREMENTS IN CHINA

Sept 2005 – China starts releasing information about new MLM requirements in China Due December 1, 2005. It appears from this report on AMWAY that the front end breakaway may not be allowed and all Sales Represenatives (SR's in China) may start buying at wholesale. This has been reported before. It is for sure that there will be "customer" requirements where a customer does not belong to the pay plan. Stand by for future details! Here is this week's brief:

May 2005 --- The rat packs are running hard in Japan right now. Mobile scam teams are conning people into selling their bank accounts (very tightly controlled in Japan) and them moving money from scam into them. The person that sold the bank account may then go to jail while crooks laugh!

Jan 2005 -- TheSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will conduct a probe on companies engaged in multilevel marketing and allegedly practicing the unlawful sale of unregistered securities to the public. This could include compensation plans that reward for head hunting in a chain pyramid structure: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=BUSINESS&oid=67084

PHILLIPINES BUSTS DTI AND JC MARTIN CORP

Jan 2005 -- Seems there may be some political activity here since First Quadrant is owned and managed by Julie Rose Tactacan, the wife of Environment Secretary Michael Defensor. The Philippines has not established a precedent set of laws for defining pyramids and seems to be in the process of creating them after a visit to the U.S. FTC.

Winter 2005 --According to an article in Japan's Asahi Shimbun, recent test results showing almost no weight loss observed between rats that were given diet products and those that were not have prompted Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to crack down on irresponsible advertising. According to the article, the ministry is currently drafting guidelines under the Health Promotion Law to ban misleading ads for supplements claimed to discharge body fats. Internet Resources: http://www.asahi.com/english/nation/TKY200412010146.html

VIETNAM TO MANAGE MLM

Winter 2005 -- Ha Noi (VNA) – Multi-level marketing (MLM) activities are expected to be better managed in the future as the Law on Competition, which covers regulations on this type of business, is likely to be approved by the National Assembly in its ongoing session. Mentioning this problem, Dr. Nguyen Si Dung, Vice Director of the National Assembly Office, said that Viet Nam should conduct research into MLM practices and learn from other countries’ experiences with this type of business in order to find an appropriate way forward. Ed Note: Yes Good steps!

TAIPEI TIMES June 2004 -- Multi-level marketing growing. One person in nearly every two households took part in multi-level marketing (MLM) activities last year. This is the highest ratio in the world according to the latest survey by the Governments Fair Trade Commission. The survey showed that 3.81 million people took part in MLM activities last year, up 549,000 from the previous year. One person out of every 1.85 households took part in multi-layer activities, up from one person in every 2.12 households the previous year. Commission officials said that an average MLM Company has 19.2 full-time with each of them having to serve 945 people.

GOLD QUEST GET SRI LANKA BOOT?

June 2004 -- Sri Lanka is looking at the loot that Gold Quest is dragging offshore and putting the brakes on the deal. Gold Quest and it’s shaky operations seems to run into legal controversy all around the world. http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/mon/jun21w23.htm

SINGAPORE HOTTEST MLM PLACE IN ASIA RIGHT NOW?

April 2004 --This article from the Straits Times tells you why MLM is really strong in Singapore. The over 40 crowd looks at it as a retirement supplement. Singapore put new MLM laws in place to filter out scams and now the number of MLM participants has more than doubled in a year. Read and save this article. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,4386,245495,00.html

WILL YOU BE FIRST? VIETNAM COMMUNISTS TO ALLOW MLM

Feb 2004 – The walls are coming down in VietNam. New recruiting territory? First China Communists --- now VietNam. Tell your company! Beautiful country great place to recruit!